GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows
GemCraft Chapter 2: Chasing Shadows is the fourth game in Game in a Bottle's GemCraft series, and is the sequel to GemCraft Chapter 1: The Forgotten. It was released on April 4, 2014 as the 4th game in the series, and later released on Steam in April 2015 for $9.99. Development for the game started on August 1, 2011. On December 16, 2011, Game in a Bottle posted the first screenshot of the game. In the developer's blog post, many spoilers were released for the game. Changes Game Mechanics 9x Speed Button The game features a new 9x speed button for players who spend hours on Endurance. Also, the menu bar can now be switched from the top to the bottom for the user's preference. EXP Bar The game has the EXP bar with now in different graphics. This EXP bar in the battle was first introduced on Gemcraft iOS. Endurance Endurance mode can now only be attempted after the player beats the allotted number of waves for the level they are playing, and is a button on the victory screen. Achievement progress is not recorded during this mode either. Endurance mode goes on until round 999, after which the player completes endurance mode for the map and receives a different coloring on the token, or they lose. Difficulty Levels can now be played on 3 difficulties: Looming, Glaring, and Haunting. Looming is the default difficulty, with harder difficulties resulting in more and tougher monsters in a longer battle, but also reward more experience for completing the battle and increase the battle trait experience multipliers. Higher difficulties are also the only way to acquire level 100 talisman fragments, as they increase the levels of dropped fragments. Skills The game begins with only a few skills, but more can be gained by unlocking tome chambers on certain maps from killing a specific number of monsters in certain ways. Skills that indirectly affects gem power are capped at 45. Each skill level costs more skill points to level up, and unspent skill points add mana to its starting pool, so it isn't always a good idea to spend all skill points. Battle Traits Similar to GemCraft: Labyrinth's "Battle Settings", battle traits modify the mechanics of the battle at varying magnitudes based on trait level (TL). Each trait has 7 levels and adds one wave to the battle, making it longer. Battle traits cost Shadow Cores, requiring the trait level in cores to use that level (e.g. 1 core for trait level 1, 3 cores to up a trait from level 2 to 3, 7 from 6 to 7, etc.). Higher difficulties also make traits cost more, with Glaring costing twice as much, and Haunting costing thrice the number of shadow cores. If a player loses a battle with battle traits, all Shadow Cores spent on battle traits are returned. Talismans Fragments can be collected from rare monsters and chest drops to fill the talisman. Each fragment has a rarity that's increased with trait difficulty and level that can be increased with shadow cores, capping at 100. They also have 1+ bonuses that increase as it's upgraded. They come with a higher rarity allow for more powerful bonuses per upgrade and more per fragment. Very powerful fragments even have the ability to increase all of skill levels and grant the capability of going beyond the skill cap, making it extremely powerful. World map The world map is a bit different from the previous Gemcraft games. The markers for each field, called field tokens, now resemble a grade 1 gem, just like Gemcraft Chapter 0: Gem of Eternity and GemCraft Chapter 1: The Forgotten. Some levels resemble higher grade gems, like grade 3. Unlike other Gemcraft games, levels are now on hextiles. Each of them has several fields, including any number of special fields such as wizard towers, tome chambers, or vision fields. Vision fields are the most challenging, similar to the epic fields in previous games. At the start of the game, the player starts at Hextile F and Field F1. World Map levels Vision Fields These are fields that lets the player peek into past or future events. The player will replay some fields from previous GemCraft games with a fixed set of skills. They're considered the most challenging levels in the game. All talisman effects and skills are deactivated for these levels, but beating these fields will give the player a one-time reward of 13 skill points and, in some cases, unlock more fields to explore. Level Map The maps are redone in GC2:CS, and are filled with more color. Paths can now be made from dirt, sand or whatever terrain the player is currently in, as well as stones. GC2- Maps 1.jpg|Field F4 in Beta GC2 Maps 2.jpg|Field F6 in Beta GC2 Maps 3.jpg|Field F1 in Beta GC2 Maps 4.jpg GC2 Maps 5.jpg GC2 Maps 6.jpg Achievements Buildings Shrines lose their buildable status and return to their "special" status from GC0. Walls shrink to down to 1×1 units while the other buildings are 2×2 units. This helps the player put their towers where they want with more precision. Wizard towers levels resemble grade 2 (GC1, GC0) or grade 3 (GCL, GCCS) gems. Tome chamber levels resemble grade 1 gems that is like a Tri-swirl design inside. Stone circles called nodes appear in some levels. These store energy from monsters that are under the influence of an effect, like curse or freeze. Ruined nodes will build up a charge to 10% then damage enemies in range. Some vision maps (and the spiritforge level) requires to charge 5 nodes to 100% to beat them. Imprisoned Gem of Eternity replicas and the Scythe Gate: Old Gems of Eternity can be found caged in some levels, where The Forgotten has been previously captured. Both of them randomly banish monsters. However, the Scythe Gate appears on Field H1. Obelisks function like beacons randomly bestowing monsters with a random effect and are indestructible. Corrupted Mana Shards are yellow mana shards that will weaken any gems that feed off of them, while being inexhaustible, drastically lowering the amount of mana that can be acquired from each shot, unless Mana harvesting gems are used, though those gems will still experience a decrease in damage per shot. Sleeping Hives are insidious new enemy buildings that spawn shadow swarmlings, like they came out of a Tomb for every shot fired by a nearby gem in a tower and each gem bomb used on them. Each Swarmling from here is stronger than the last, so while it is a great method for free kills and hits, it is dangerous to hit the sleeping hive too many times; the swarmling may eventually gain giant-like stats. Gems The gems get a make-over. Chain hit (lime) and the shocking (cyan) gems are gone. However, black and white gems (Bloodbound and Poolbound) make their first appearance in this game. The following table shows the gems' base stats. Poolbound is a new ability that increases all the components of white gems (minus black gems) whenever the mana bar reaches its maximum. The black gem's bloodbound power is similar, except it increases all the components for each hit (minus white gems). The other new ability is healing suppression. It permanently reduce a monster's regeneration rate, as low as zero. All the other gems are the same with slight changes. Gem types are not unlockable once a field has started. However, the player can learn different skills from skill tomes, which will permanently unlock a specific gem type. Enraging When a gem bomb is used to summon monsters, it increases the health, armor level, and EXP gained from the monsters. Every fifth enrage on a single wave will cause a beacon to appear on the field. Summoning is renamed as Enraging. Gem Bombs There is a new method of rapid gem bombing. If SHIFT is held and press the bombing button, gems from the inventory will automatically be selected for bombing, as in Labyrinth. When the screen is clicked, a duplicate from the topmost gem in your inventory is used. Component Abilites While a gem in the previous games could only have 3 specials at a time, GC2 will allow have as many specials as the number of components in the gem. As more components are added, each special will decrease in power. If they become too weak, then they drop-off the list of gem abilities (i.e. if poison goes below 1 HP/sec. it is removed). The following table shows how much power (%) each component has based on how many components are in the gem. Mana When the mana pool reaches its maximum, it will automatically increase the mana pool size along with the power of any white gems. A new info panel is given to the mana bar, giving more specific info on how much mana the player is receiving. The mana bar also replaces the gem anvil from Labyrinth. Now the player can drop a gem on the bar to destroy it and refund 70% of its mana cost. Shrines Shrines return to their special status from GC0, but they can be used over and over as in GCL. None of the previous shrines are returning, and they are replaced with nine new shrines. Each based off one of the nine gems. Below is a table of all the shrines. Each shrine has a different charging speed and range. New shrines can be made on the field by a very rare spark, called Shrine Scroll. Gems sacrificed that match the shrine have their effects stack with the shrine where applicable. Mana Shards Mana Shards can now have a purple shell on them that must be completely destroyed before it can be harvested. Mana shards can be created by a spark called Unearthed Shard. Beacons Beacons now have varied ranges, health, and armor level, giving the game more variety. They also have different charge times between the pulses. A list of beacons for GC2 is below. Many beacons will display their range when it's hover with the mouse. Enemies Enemies are divided into 3 basic classes: # Reavers # Swarmlings # Giants Runner and armored monsters are removed from the game. Instead, all classes can now have up to 3 different bonuses, marks or curses. It consist of bonuses, such as increased speed, armor, and health. It becomes stronger at later rounds. Some enemies even have special abilities such as forced resocketing within a certain range, spawning a random beacon on the map or healing their allies. Marks There are 10 kinds of marks for monsters Flying Ones There are also monsters that have random appearances called "Flying Ones". These are flying creatures, which usually drop a lot of shadow cores. There are 4 different "flying" monsters. * Apparitions * Specters * Shadows * Spires New Features Heads-Up Display Game in a Bottle added a feature where the player can move the bar that displays mana and score to the bottom. This makes the wave tiles come from the top, instead of the bottom. However, this feature doesn't appear to be visible in the final version. In later levels, The Forgotten also curses the player by blackening the HUD. The Forgotten As the player approaches the Spiritforge, The Forgotten will appear for a brief moment, with one of two effects, enrage the next 3 waves or shrouded the HUD in shadow for a wave, rendering the player unable to interact with the game. Monsters will still move and gems will continue to attack, although Spires will not move until the effect has passed and all wave calls are canceled. She stops interfering directly in any way after Field X5 is beaten. Spells Spells are different abilities which get unlocked by finding the matching skill. There are 3 strike and gem enhancing spells. Gem enhancing spells will add a temporary bonus attack to gems in towers and a permanent bonus to gems in traps. Strike spells are used to give monsters special effects to weaken them. Strike Spells Freeze Enemies within the range of this spell will be frozen for a period of time. While frozen they take 150%+ armor tearing effect. When killed they explode and deal additional damage to a random nearby monster. Curse Enemies within the range of this spell will be cursed for a period of time. While cursed they are more vulnerable to damage, slowing, and poison effect. As of v1.1.0, beacon effects have a 75% chance of failure on cursed targets. Wake of Eternity Enemies within the range of this spell are damaged by 20% of their current HP. Additionally, 40% of armor is shredded, 30% of healing is suppressed and all layers of shield are removed. Every fifth target is also banished. Enhancement Spells Sparks Sparks are rare events set in between the waves that trigger bonuses in the game. When activated, they provide bonuses ranging from decreasing mana costs to summoning something. The effects can be increased to an extent by using gem bombs on them. Events Gem Wasps Gem Wasps are insects that are inside of gems. When a gem is used as a gem bomb, the wasps come out and attack nearby monsters. They have a set amount (changing with gem grade) of time or "stings" on the field (whichever is exhausted first) and every 2nd sting stuns their target. They cannot be controlled in who they attack, but they make gem bombs have a use in tougher waves. Orblets Orblets come from a battle trait. They sit around the orb and can be claimed by monsters who carry them off field. While docked to the orb, they increase the rate at which the player gains mana by 3%. If the player kills that monster the orblet it was carrying, the orblet begins to move back to the orb. However, it can be picked-up again even before reaching it. Until the orblet returns, no bonus or penalty is received. If the monster carrying the orblet leaves the field, the player suffers a -10% mana regeneration penalty. Talisman powers allows the player to increase the orblets' weight, reducing the speed of monsters which are attempting to carry them off-field, and increases the speed at which they return to the tower if a monster carrying them is killed. Synopsis It focuses on the wizard from Gemcraft Chapter 1 with The Forgotten on their way to the Spiritforge. On the way, they pass through an old trap, the Scythe Gate, which separates the wizard and the Forgotten. Finding himself at his old wizard tower, the wizard now sets off to set a trap to capture and seal the Forgotten before she reaches the Spiritforge. Along the way, as the player encounters new structures and enemies, a journal entry will be added discussing it. As the player continues toward the Spiritforge they will ponder the summoning of the Forgotten, questioning if the summoning "was really an accident," along with her plot and motives. The player eventually discovers that the Gembearer (the character from Gemcraft Labyrinth) was killed, with the Gem of Eternity that he had crafted lying by his corpse. The player collects the Gem and decides to take it to the Spiritforge in his stead, while tapping into its powers to kill the monsters attacking the Spiritforge. It is then that things go wrong and the truth is revealed. The Gem of Eternity, after absorbing the essence of the monsters begins to glow with a blinding light. At the same time, the sealed Gem of Eternity replicas also begin to glow, transferring energy to the Gem of Eternity. It then fires a powerful burst of magic at the Spiritforge shield, destroying it. It is then revealed that all along, the gem that the player had collected from the Gembearer's corpse was a corrupted replica. In all the previous instances where the Forgotten had been sealed, she would slowly corrupt the gem, twisting the gem's power to her own needs, and binding all the fake gems to one another. This means that when the player used the fake socket, they used the corrupted power of all the gems and destroyed the shield. The Forgotten even let them live after their initial separation at the Scythe Gate. In the end the player was the Forgotten's pawn, as she used them to break into the one place that she could not enter or corrupt. However, she probably never meant for them to live and that may have been a serious mistake. The game alludes to a sequel, where the player enters the Spiritforge after they found the real Gem of Eternity, which had been poorly hidden by the Forgotten, which is found at field Y6 after breaking the Spiritforge shield. Gameinabottle Comment 1.jpg|One of Gameinabottle's comments Gameinabottle Comment 2.jpg|One of Gameinabottle's comments Loading Tips An alphabetized list of all loading tips can be found here. Steam Shortly before Gemcraft 2 was released, the game was put on Steam Greenlight and got Greenlit in a week. The Steam version of Gemcraft was released on the April 30, 2015, followed by Kongregate and other websites and costs $9.95. The Steam version has some features that are exclusive as well as some modified features, due to the fact that the Steam version has no option for in-game purchases. http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/updates/234463734 Category:Gemcraft Chapter 2 (Chasing Shadows) Category:Chapters Category:Games __FORCETOC__ __NOEDITSECTION__